Diary of Lindsay Robert Turner, 1918 (Vol. 3) - Part 2

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us with tea and cake. We ate

our lunch seated on an old 

stone wall by the road side while

our horses fed in an adjoining

farm yard.. Our next position

we selected some five miles 

further south after a picturesque

ride thro a valley with ploughed 

fields on either side. The position

itself was high up on the top

of a town well wooden and 

from which a magnificent view

was obtained. The place itself

seemed quite uninhabited not

like the England we know

and far away in the distance

could be seen teams ploughing

and here and there small

herds of cattle grazing. It 

was a great outing and some

of the country of course we 

had never seen before.

10

15/2/18 This time we have assigned 

the task of locating certain positions

given to us on the map and at 

11 oclock we were to meet at a

certain rendezvous and report

on the route by which we travelled.

We set out in pairs and by some

good fortune our position happened

to be at the foot of Scratchbury

Hill one of the noted landmarks

of the district. it was originally 

an old Roman Camp. and used 

as a defensive post. Around

the top is an earthern parapet

with a huge mound at either

end called a tumulus for

purposes of observation. A

winding path, leads up to it 

and this was the only means of 

access to the summit. I had

long intended to visit the place

so the time was opportune.

We decided to reach our

 11

rendezvous by striking out across

country. and of course must strike

a fence not shown on the map.

necessitating a long trip round

It was a good experiment however

and well worth it. In the afternoon

we constructed gunpits - on paper.

16/2/18. I'm gradually losing count

of the weeks we've been away

from home. I can calculate

the months easily enough and

I know it's considerably over three

I wonder how many live shells

we'll have dodged by the time

the next three have passed.

There was a muster parade

at 12 when a D.C.M. medal

was presented to one of our

Sergeants by General Someone

I'll find out his name later

We were at the time freezing

at our O.P. Station and

12

could only witness the proceedings

with field glasses. This afternoon

OBryan and I walked to Sutton

Veny to have afternoon tea with

the adjutant a mutual friend

It was exceedingly cold so we

enjoyed the walk.

17/2/18. I do believe this morning

was colder than any we've experienced

here Certainly the first

few days after we arrived were

quite bad enough but then we 

felt it more than we do now

There was frost everywhere and

all the water in our buckets was

frozen. Still it presaged a 

fine day as in Australia

We had the usual Church

parade in the Village Church

and this afternoon much

tho' I'd have preferred a long 

walk I stayed in to write

13

letters and pack up my troubles

for the morrow's transfer to

Lark Hill:

15/2/18. It was even colder this

morning and as Lark Hill has

the reputation of being the

bleakest spot in all England.

certainly not a very cheerful

prospect for the very day of our

5 weeks Field punishment. We

left camp at 9.30 entraining

at Codford and proposed to

spend several hours seeing 

the sights and incidentally

the first town we will have

seen since we landed. We 

paid our respects to the Colonel

and he seemed glad to get

rid of us for the time being

tho' we reciprocated his

kindly farewell: We know

we'll have to work but expect

14

quite a large amount of encouragement.
Salisbury besides

being the largest English town

we've been in so far is well

worth a visit if only for its

Cathedral. After we had had

lunch and a huge one it

was in view of the starvation

rations we anticipated we

walked to the Cathedral and

from quite a distance off

marvelled not only at its size

but the architectural beauty

and surrounded as it is by

a large garden with trees

which must be Centuries

old only shows up that beauty

The interior is typical of

Cathedrals but on either side

of the aisle between the pillars

are tombs of Crusaders

notable Churchmen and 

a Cavalier or two. They must

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have been buried years ago.

judging by the ancient state

of the tombs. All round

the walls are flagstones

inscribed with the name of

some one buried beneath it

and quite a number are

noted people of the neighbourhood

as far back as 1654 Some 

of the inscriptions date tho

there must be quite a number

even earlier than that but

now almost worn away. The 

original Salisbury Cathedral 

was at Old Sarum but the

present one was erected in

the 12th Century and took 40

years to build. In the front

is a magnificent piece of

architecture the wall being

set with 6 massive lead

light windows and all over 

it resting on small brackets

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are carved figures. Some of the
figures have been removed
probably by the opponents to the
Anglican doctrine at some time
or other.. We left Salisbury
at 4.40 for Amesbury and
thence by car to our destination
No 14 Camp. We were astounded
at the size of the area for
miles and miles there is nothing
but Camp all British of course
The school we're attending is
conducted by R.F.A. officers
a sort of privilege we Australians
enjoy. We go into the
new school commencing
tomorrow with a large number
of Cadets English schoolboys
mostly who have passed thro
a preliminary course at St Johns
Wood. It's going to be nothing but
work so my diary is sure
to suffer.

17
19/2/18 Our first impressions
of Lark Hill were distinctly satisfactory
with one exception we
had the misfortune to strike a
meatless day. As a matter of
fact there are two starvation
days Tuesdays and Fridays.
We haven't reached that state of
affairs at Heytesbury so far.
There was a fairly heavy frost
but nothing like Monday morning
consequently not nearly so cold
neither could our imaginations
run the full distance after the
picture that has been painted
for us by would be well wishers
There are 5 classes in existence
each of approximately 30 members
and mostly R.F.A. Cadets. Our
class consists wholly of Cadets
except us three and slick youths
They are too been doing nothing
else but this work for the last
6 months. We of course have

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been touring the World. At
9 oclock fall in theres a wild
rush for places. The class is
dressed roll called marched
off and the inevitable "eyes right"
performed succesfully inside of
5 Seconds. Woe betide the one
who is late he would never
make an officer. We all robe
ourselves in canvas slacks
and canvas jumpers probably
to give the idea that we sometimes
have to wander down the bore
of the 18 Pdr. but which makes
us look more like City meat-
Vendors. It's lectures and
work from 9 until 6 30
Mess at 7.30 then we repair
to our dens to spend the remainder
of the night and possibly part
of the early morning writing
up the day's notes. At the end
of 5 weeks we'll appreciate
our leave alright.